A conventional radio frequency (RF) energy multiplexer (as the term is used herein) is a network of elements that may be used to separate RF signals of multiple frequencies received from a common port out to multiple ports sorted by frequency. For example, a single antenna may receive signals at multiple frequencies or channels, and a multiplexer can be used to separate out the channels for individual processing of the information carried on each channel. Such RF energy multiplexers are often implemented using three junction devices, such as circulators, to send the compound signal through a cascade of individual band pass filters that separate out each channel. Frequencies outside of each pass band filter will continue reflecting off filters down the cascade path until reaching a filter with the correct pass band. At that point the signal for a particular channel will exit the multiplexer. At higher frequencies such as Ku-band and higher, filters used to implement RF multiplexers are generally large waveguide structures with complicated features such as irises or rectangular/circular waveguide transitions that cannot be easily integrated with the ferrite switching networks and antenna systems. Further, due to tolerance sensitivities of the filter elements, the passband of the filters must be fine-tuned, often by hand, to get the filter bandwidths correct and coordinated across the multiplexer.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for alternate and improved systems and methods for providing RF energy multiplexers.